Sitting in the backseat of a car, your adolescent ears are graced with a declaration of angst and uprising.
“But God does it feel so good. ‘Cause I got him where I want him right now. And if you could, then you know you would. ‘Cause God, it just feels so. It just feels so good!”
– Misery Business
“Misery Business,” the fifth track from the album “Riot,” introduced you to the ecstatic melodies and themes of emo and pop-punk music. Some of us would fall into the genre, filling our heads with the songs from Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Panic! At the Disco. Whether or not one would grow out of or fall more into the music genre, we will always remember that little punk kid we used to be, but what happens when said punk kid grows up?
“After Laughter,” Paramore’s fifth studio album, was released in May 2017 and chooses to show its audience the answer to that question. The band, formed by teenagers back in 2004, has had dozens of singles top the US Billboard 200, a Grammy win and nominations, dozens of U.S. and international tours, and several albums.
When people think of Paramore, they’re reminded of the dramatic lyricism, catchy melodies backed by enthusiastic drumming, and what people have come to know as the Hayley Williams sound. People associate Paramore with the emo and pop-rock sound. In the “After Laughter” album, the band switched up their style of music.
The band ties together pop rock with a new wave, ’80s sound and aesthetic. The lyrics have changed to match the sound from aggressive power cords and vicious drum beats to a smoother cadence, upbeat guitar riffs and more electronic sound. This is a result of a change in thinking from the band members, whose own perspectives have greatly influenced their music. Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore, recounted her experience meeting fans who wore merchandise from their earlier albums.
“I knew there was no, there was just no fooling around; I wasn’t the same person that I was, in the picture on that T-shirt and maybe I had never been,” said Hayley Williams to Zane Lowe during an interview for his podcast. “It was almost like I had a statue of myself in my mind with half pink half orange hair, and like, I was just not going to be that person again; and I was sad about it for a while.”
The lyrics do approach similar topics of depression, heartbreak, and life, but it’s the presentation of the sound and the writing. We can see this when we compare the song “Ignorance” from their 2009 Album “Brand New Eyes,” to “Fake Happy” from “After Laughter.”
It’s the presentation of the overall sound which really differentiates the two albums. While earlier album’s lyrics focus on the effects the world has had on the self, the recent album focuses on self-actualization and introspective. This stems from not only the traumas the world, society, and adulthood brought to them, but also through the several different dramas they’ve had with different band members leaving and re-joining the group.
The current drummer for Paramore, Zac Farro, had returned to the band after leaving back in 2010 with his brother who was their guitarist at the time.
“Even though it’s been really uncomfortable or great at times, we’ve all just been getting, like, older and accepting that, like, who we are individuals,” Farro said, who also talked about how rejoining the band and being a part of the album has helped him feel more “complete” as a person.
I really feel like I can mirror that sentiment. As a young teen, I needed to find a way to express myself and Paramore helped me do that. I would memorize the lyrics and try to find a way to relate them to my situation. Yell-singing the songs in the car, driven by whatever mood the days circumstance had given me. Even now, on days I feel a tired, I blast Paramore’s “Decode” and dramatically sing the song under my breath as I get my chores done.
While I do enjoy their earlier work, most of the time I listen to tracks from “After Laughter.” The songs there feel just as emotional, but are written in a way that comes off more mature and retrospective. These songs help me understand that I can put behind those adolescents ideals and examine the world as an adult. Lyrics from “26” are ones that have helped me give the language towards understanding my own emotions.
“Reality will break your heart, Survival will not be the hardest part. It’s keeping all your hopes alive”
– 26
There’s something inherently frightening about growing up because it involves leaving behind the ideals of your past self. Never being that person again- understanding that you’ll never have the same perception and experience as you once did can be frighteningly hard to deal with.
“After Laughter” is titled this way because it talks about what comes after. What are the repercussions of the events that you’ve experienced within your formative youth? And this can be a sad and happy experience. Because you’ve reached self-actualization and have been granted the maturity that comes along with that. This will prepare you with the skills and knowledge to take on whatever life pulls you through next.